Konica Minolta Does It Again

Author's Rating:

Pros: Ergonomics, features, start-up time, zoom, ease of use, battery life

Cons: manual is a little confusing, LOTS of features!

The Bottom Line: 
Go out and get it! Wonderfully fool-proof, and incredibly flexible!

Author's Review
What is there to say that hasn't been already said?

Well, let's look at the pros and cons of this wonderful camera.

1) First of all, the thing I noticed right off the bat is the incredibly fast startup time. While most other cameras are displaying a logo and loading settings, I've already locked the exposure and aperture settings, taken the picture, and shut off again.

2) The incredible zoom. Yes, the camera is bulky, but that's because of the stunning zoom that it has, not only in wide-angle, but also in telephoto (Both of which are selectable in the menu screen). An 8x optical with 3x digital means you'll get very close to the subject, and with continuous AF (Autofocus), the camera does ALL the work, all you have to do is point and shoot. That means it controls the motors, selects the aperture and focus range, and controls colours, too.

3) Ease of use.
Okay, there are two sides to the coin here. As long as the camera's on auto, it does everything for you, from compensating for any zoom you use, to adjusting flash, to pretty much everything else. It's a dream camera.

However, if for some reason you choose to adjust the settings yourself, God help you. There are a myriad of options, from custom white balance correct to aperture, focus, shutter speed, focus lock settings... I wouldn't be surprised if the camera included an egg-timer. It would help if the instruction manual, which falters here, had a little bit of a clearer layout or explanation as to what each individual function does.

4) Ergonomics
So there's a few people here who've had problems with the lens cap disappearing, or the fact that it's not attached to the camera itself. I don't really see that as a problem, because I always put the lens cap in my pocket, or somewhere that I'll remember - I haven't lost the lens cap, so it's not a problem. Otherwise, the camera's remarkably well-laid out. Everything is pretty natural for a camera that is the shape of the Z10. You don't have to strain to reach any of the buttons (macro and flash and zoom, especially, which is a godsend), and it's even got a nifty little menu while you're shooting to take a look at previous pictures without having to snap into browse mode
While we're at it, the viewfinder is fantastic. Colourful, crisp, and surprisingly useful. However, as time goes on, I find myself using the equally well-designed eyepiece, simply because there is an incredible amount of time and effort put into designing it just right. The eyepiece fits snugly around your eye, with no distortion and no dizziness when you're moving the camera around. In both the viewfinder and eyepiece settings, you can turn on, expand, or turn off the information presented to you (You can even get an RGB scale - Red Green and Blue amounts - for what is currently in view)

In sum, there are a thousand little things that K/M has paid attention to in designing this product, and that's what makes it so amazing - The attention to the details is second to none.

So those are the great parts of the Z10. What are the negatives?

Well, there are a grand total of two. Both of which can be bad, or may just be one of those things where you shrug your shoulders and question my sanity :P

First and foremost, the camera is 3.2 megapixels. A megapixel is the amount of visual information a camera can store in a square-inch area. All electronics use 'pixels'to display information, and a pixel is the name for one unit of visual information. so a megapixel is a million pixels. The more you have, the better your picture quality. With comparably-priced cameras (I paid about $240 Canadian with shipping and handling), there are up to 5 megapixels, so the Z10 is at a disadvantage here. However, once all the weird math is done, a picture taken with a 3.2 MP camera can be blown up to an 8x10 without image distortion. So if you're planning to make images bigger than an 8x10, you may want to look elsewhere.
Aside from that is the bewildering array of special features this camera packs. While a newbie may have no problem just setting the camera on auto and letting it do its thing, I like to experiment and see what each mode does. The instruction manual might have been a little more clear (Or, less dense, if you prefer) about the individual features and what they do. But, I'm a guy and I dislike reading instruction manuals almost on instinct, so that may just be me.
Finally, there is a shutter lag of about a second to a second and a half. I'm not sure why it's that high, it may be the settings I'm using, so when you do buy this camera (Which you absolutely should!), toy with the camera a bit, see if you can change the shutter timing.
There are no other negatives to this camera. Seriously. Go out and get it if you're a novice or intermediate photographer. It's a wonderful camera, and you most certainly will NOT regret it!